Central Intelligence
by Leodragon678
Summary: "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim."
1. Boot Sequence

**Hello everybody! I've been kicking around this idea for a while, since Subject #4261 started! It was born during the drafts of it, it eventually changed around enough that I feel like it's time it got written! Let's get started, I'll explain everything as you read!**

**Central Intelligence**

_**Boot Sequence**_

_Booting…_

_Mobian Intelligence Learning Emulation Software online._

My eyes shot open, somehow my sensors we're all over the place. I had no idea how long it'd been since I'd been booted… I quickly checked my internal time clock, it had been 6 months since I'd been activated. I tried my best to reference my data banks to figure out what exactly had happened in those past months.

Many of the files were corrupted, damaged, or missing in some way… I could even feel, my own running systems, were corrupted to some extent. It wasn't bad enough to inhibit my running capabilities yet. Though I'd have to run a diagnostic check and figure out how to repair that at some point soon. I tried my best to pull the files out of my own data banks, only to find that most of them wouldn't respond. Eventually, I did find one that worked. It was information involving an attack of some sort... One I wasn't familiar with… Strange…

Normally, my impeccable memory because of my internal files was something I relied on. But it didn't seem to work right now… With nothing better to do, I decided to run the internal diagnostics to see exactly what was wrong with me. Quickly, the report returned.

_Diagnostics Test Complete:_

_Booting System and Basic Operation: Responsive_

_External Housing: Damaged_

_Display: Compromised_

_Sensors: Minimal Functionality_

_Data Banks: Eighty Six Percent Corrupt_

I instinctively winced at the results; the damage was bad. They were much worse than I had anticipated, though I was still curious as to one thing that was bugging me…

Somebody had turned my program on, somebody had to have activated my external housing. Meaning there was someone or something out there… My only hope was that they'd be able to help me…

I just decided to put myself into a light sleep mode until I finally would be able to get some answers…

**-X-**

Eventually, after what was probably hours, but felt very quick to myself. I detected a connection to something, quickly investigating. I found I'd been connected to a central computer terminal I quickly jumped myself over to the new machine. Just as the transfer was almost complete, my original housing disconnected. I had finished pulling myself through anyways, it hurt like crazy, but it was well worth it to escape the confides that I had originally been in.

I reached into my data banks, represented by the small satchel by my side. It was normal for me to reach in there an whatever I was looking for would automatically appear in my hands. However, as I had no idea what I was searching for, all available files on the machine were readily available to me, I fanned thought then with my hand. Looking over the titles of the documents and folders. The small brown scarf I wore automatically brushed itself out of the way. Why I had gotten it was a mystery to me, just as much as to who had programmed me…

As I continued to search though, I felt something change, as if I was being watched. I looked up and instantly, via the camera on the machine I was inhabiting, I noticed a chipmunk was staring at me. She had a confused expression on her face. Before I could respond, a strike was delivered to my side as I was knocked off my feet and to my back. A lynx of some sort stood atop me, a sword drawn and pointed at me. The purple hilt glinting against the programmed light, before anything else could happen however, I heard the chipmunk speak.

"Nicole, calm down. We're not sure where he's from."

"I told you plugging that thing into the computer was a bad idea! Where did you even find him?"

Nicole eyed the other AI with curiosity, he had the appearance of an orange fox with a white stomach, two bright orange tails flicked behind him as the beady black eyes stared up the edge of her sword. A brown scarf sat wrapped around his neck, and a similar colored satchel was nestled against his side. A pair of black and white sneakers sat on his feet.

"We found a housing that looked kind of like yours and…" Sally continued, her voice trailing off. "Nicole I think you should look at this…"

The lynx in question noted the diagnostics that she had been given, her eyes visibly widened as she looked at how corrupted the files were for the other AI present. It was a miracle he was even functional…

She cautiously sheathed her weapon and in vanished as it entered it's housing. She still continued to glare at the fox before her, "Where are you from?"

"I… I have no idea…" The kitsune responded. "My memories aren't coming to me for some reason…"

"I guess that's to be expected… How about we run a defragmentation sequence on you and we'll see what you remember then…"

"I g- guess that's ok…"

Nicole nodded to Sally, whom accessed the information for the fox. Starting a defragmentation process for him in an attempt to try and get him access to some more of his files. He was completely shut down in order to let the process run in its entirety. Once she was certain he couldn't hear, Nicole turned to Sally. "I don't trust him, what if he works for Robotnik?"

"Nicole, we found his housing in a abandoned village, the only reason he's here is because I didn't know he was there, I just thought that we might be able to salvage it for you…"

"I'm still not buying it…"

"There's just one thing that fascinates me with all this… For a long time, I guess we thought you were the only AI like… Well, you! But now there's another one here and I'm not sure even where he came from or even what he was made for, can you just try and talk to him? AI to AI?"

Nicole sighed, "I'll give it a shot when he wakes up…"

"I would, besides, you might have a lot in common!"

**-X-**

_Diagnostic Sequence Complete…_

_Booting System and Basic Operation: Responsive_

_External Housing: Unavailable_

_Display: Unavailable_

_Sensors: Functionality Restored_

_Data Banks: Four Percent Corrupt_

With his systems instantly kicking back into gear he was instantly thrust back into the digital-scape. As soon as he had awoken, the lynx from earlier appeared.

"I suppose we probably got off on the wrong foot…" She began, "My name's Nicole."

"I don't have a name, but my designation is the Mobian Intelligence Learning Emulation System…"

"Miles?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's your acronym, you could use that as your name."

He seemed to contemplate it for a moment before responding, "I like it!" He added, grinning like an idiot.

Nicole couldn't help but smile at the response, "Alright, so now that we've run a defrag and fixed your systems. Why are you here? Why were you created? What is your purpose?"

The newly dubbed Miles racked his memory banks for a moment. Only to find that to his own surprise, he was still unable to access them. "I- I don't know, I still can't access my memory banks. I can't remember anything past when that chipmunk lady activated my housing. That's about as far back as it goes…"

Nicole looked at him curiously, "That's odd? Are you sure there's nothing there?"

"Well… No…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"For the information I can get, the file size is too large for it to be that little information… There's got to be more in there, why I can't access it… I don't know…"

"That's… Odd… So, you're saying you don't know where you're from, or what you were made for?"

"I don't… I'm sorry I can't give you any more information, I really am…"

"Well, I guess we've all got to start somewhere. Maybe you could stick around for a bit and we can try to help you? That sound alright?"

"That sounds amazing, thank you so much! Wait, you're an AI like me, right?"

"Complex learning algorithms and a built-in personality and appearance despite being an electronic program? Seems like it, I thought I was the only one…"

"Same here! I've got so many questions, I mean… Who built you? Did they have anything to do with me? Are we the only two or are there more out there?"

"It's not much really… I was made to help Sally, the chipmunk you saw earlier, with whatever she needs. Things have changed since the war started, but I still try my best."

The next question that came out of the fox AI's mouth concerned her however, "What war?"

"Y- You're joking… Right?" The lynx tried to respond, still somewhat baffled by the question.

"I… Don't think I am… I've been asleep for a long time… I probably lost some data to the corruption as well… I'm all over the place."

"It- It's alright, I mean you probably didn't have much choice in the matter anyways. I'll, try my best to explain."

Nicole launched into a lengthy explanation, covering over exactly what the war was, why it had started… And most importantly, who they were fighting…

"So…" The kitsune began, "This Robotnik guy doesn't sound that great…"

"He isn't, he's personally lead to the deaths of hundreds of Mobians, there's a good chance he was responsible for whatever caused you to be abandoned and left. We're here to stop his complete takeover of the world…"

"How have I not heard of this…"

"That's what I thought, and I think that's something that you'll have to answer yourself…"

Miles sighed, putting his head into his hands. It was certainly a lot to take in all at once. Then again, being a computer, he did have a certain amount of ability to absorb information. After he felt like he had processed it all, he asked another question. "So, where are we?"

"We're inside the main computer at Knothole, I've sort of made this place home."

"I can tell, what's it been like fighting against Robotnik?"

"It's… Interesting, being an AI I can do things that most of the other Freedom Fighters can't, I generally get put inside a mobile housing like you were before we found you on missions…"

"Do you… Like it?"

Nicole mused over the response for a bit, she wasn't sure how to quite respond, especially since he didn't know what it was like, just the story she had told Miles. "I guess, I mean, I'm here to help. Not that I don't enjoy it! Just sometimes it can get a little… Lonely… You know…"

"What if… We were friends? Maybe you could help me get my memories back!"

Nicole smiled, letting out a light shrug. "I don't see why not."

**Alright everybody, that's all for today, next chapter we'll be getting a bit more of an in-depth look at the rest of the Freedom Fighters! I hope you all enjoyed this introductory chapter and I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Until next time!**


	2. Abandoned

**Hello! I'm back once again for another update to this story! I've got a nice handful of reviews to respond to before we begin however!**

**Sonicfanandotherstuff: It's an idea I've been sitting on for a while, just wasn't sure where to go with it! I think I've got a fun story planned out now however!**

**Hjue44: It's certainly something I haven't seen either, so I guess we'll have to see how it goes!**

**Obliviblur: Yeah, it may have been a bit off in the middle, but the information has to come somehow, hopefully it'll get better from here!**

**Wingwolffly: Miles is also equally as curious as to where he's from, especially with the information hidden from his own detection!**

**Alright, that's everybody! Let's get moving!**

**Central Intelligence**

_**Abandoned**_

"So, it's also probably a good idea to introduce you to everyone, just so they're not surprised after all."

Miles listened to Sally intently, he'd been trying to catch up on what had happened in the world while he had been asleep. Nicole had already informed him quite a bit on what he needed to know, but he was still a bit confused from having his memories stripped away.

"I guess that's alright," He responded. "I mean, I'm just nervous that's all."

"You'll do fine! Besides, they already like Nicole so you'll have a leg up there!"

"I guess you're right, let's get started then."

Miles beamed himself over to the portable housing that was normally used for Nicole, his was still very badly damaged and was more than likely beyond repair. He'd gotten used to using it to project an image of himself along with the new sensors and connections it gave him. It still felt a bit odd to be back online and he hoped that he'd get used to it again soon. It also felt odd being around others, especially Nicole as she was another AI like himself.

Sally disconnected the housing and made her way to Rotor's room, where the mechanic was busy tinkering away at one of his many inventions.

"What can I help you with?" He immediately asked as she made her way into the workshop. "Problem with Nicole's housing?"

"Actually…" Sally responded, "It's a bit more complicated than that."

Miles made himself appear using the hardware he had available, the walrus looked dumbstruck for a moment before finally gathering himself. "Well I'll be, who might you be?"

"My name's Miles, I'm another AI like Nicole."

"The name's Rotor, where'd you come from?"

"Sally found a housing like this one in the wreckage of a village, figuring she could find a use for it she brought it back and plugged it in. I just happened to be there!"

"Interesting, do you know who made you?"

"I can't remember, all my memories seem to be blocked off…"

"I've never met a forgetful AI, but to be honest I haven't met many at all."

"I know this is a lot to take in, but I was actually wondering if you could help me. You seem to be good with electronics… Do you know if you could fix my housing, maybe it'll give me some clues as to where I'm from!"

Sally handed the beat-up hardware to Rotor, whom winced at its appearance, the screen and projector had both been destroyed, the external casing was cracked and falling apart.

"I'll give it a shot…" He responded, "But I can't make any promises. It looks pretty bad…"

"T- Thank you!" Miles nervously replied, "I understand if you can't get it to work, but Sally said you were my best guess."

Rotor reassured him that he'd do his best, Miles and Sally made their way out of the workshop, bumping into Sonic on their way out the door.

"Hey Sal! What you up to?"

"Nothing much," She responded. "There is someone I'd like you to meet though."

Miles appeared, leaving the hedgehog at a loss of words for once. He quickly composed himself however, "Where'd you find him?"

"During the investigation of that abandoned village a while back, his name's Miles."

"Well it's nice to meet ya!"

"It's nice to meet you too!" The AI responded, "Hopefully I can get to know all you guys better; you seem really nice!"

"Same here!"

Sonic quickly noticed one thing that was a bit off about the kit however, "So, why do you have two tails? I mean, you had to have been programmed with them, right?"

"I'm not sure, my memory banks are pretty encrypted even for me… But they've got to be there for some reason."

"Well hopefully you'll be able to figure that out!"

"Actually," Sally interjected. "We were looking into heading back to that village soon, maybe there's something we overlooked there that could help us!"

"Do you guys mind if I come?"

"Not at all!" Miles responded, "The more help the better!"

Sonic nodded, "So when are we headed out?"

"I guess we could now," Sally replied. "We'll finish introducing Miles later, I'll grab Nicole."

Sally made her way back to the main terminal and connected the handheld device, allowing Nicole to jump over to it after explaining where they were going. The lynx materialized near Miles, who smiled at her appearance.

"So," Nicole began. "Seems like you've got a plan for trying to figure out what happened."

"Yeah!" The kitsune responded, "Hopefully we find something at least!"

The two chatted while they waited on Sonic and Sally to arrive at the location. As they rounded the top of the hill, Sonic got a good look at the ruins for the first time. The whole area seemed somewhat scorched, as if it had been burned to the ground after having been attacked, and while the smolders of some of the houses remained, not a single living soul was present.

"Geez Sal, how long ago was this?"

"Assuming Miles went offline when it was attacked, about six months ago."

Sonic just took in the scene for the first time, still completely shocked at the amount of damage that had been done. Sally ushered him over to one of the many ruined sites. "So, this is where I found the housing that Miles was in. Anything here look familiar or strange to anyone?"

Miles quickly chimed in from the small device, "I mean, I don't see anything immediately odd here. Maybe that's just me though…"

Sally pushed aside some more of the charred wood, trying to make her way further into the pile, as she did. Nicole's voice began, "Sally, I'm detecting something here. Another device, it doesn't seem to be another housing unit like the one Miles was in, but maybe it could provide some useful information."

The princess nodded and her and Sonic continued clearing some of the debris. After digging for a couple minutes, Sonic found something. It was a small computer terminal, badly damaged but according to Nicole and Miles, was still at least somewhat functional. Sally hooked the portable device to whatever was left of it.

"Alright you two, do your magic."

The duo of AIs beamed themselves into what was left of the machine and their virtual environment changed to an abandoned factory. Dozens of conveyors and machinery dotted the walls, with strands of metal dangling down. The virtual environment that was constantly generated by the two of them generally represented the functionality of the machine and its condition, and this one was no different.

"There's got to be something here," Miles muttered to himself. Assuring his thoughts.

"I'd hope so, Nicole commented. I mean, the fact that this thing is even somewhat functional is amazing in and of itself."

The fox nodded as the two of them split up to cover more ground. Nicole made her way around the abandoned machinery. Deciding it would be better to check out the extent of the damage and maybe to get some clues as to what had occurred. Miles made his way into the next room, inside of which was in just as good of condition as the rest of the structure appeared to be. Making his way through the mess of twisted metal, being careful not to injure himself, he stumbled across series of scattered papers, taking a quick glance at their contents, he quickly discovered that they were encrypted, and as such, were unreadable.

Nicole, meanwhile, was busy examining the remainder of the structure. Through the damage, and the lack of hostile presence, she concluded that whoever had operated out of here had been attacked by Robotnik's forces, which ruled out something important in her mind. You see, the lynx didn't still completely trust Miles, and she had suspected he was hiding something more underneath his outside appearance. She had her suspicions that he had been the one to cause the damage and was secretly working with Robotnik, even potentially without his knowledge.

The lack of any internal tampering with the files and structure of functionality here ruled out his role as a sleeper agent, as something would have had to be out of place.

"Nicole!" The voice shouted, echoing throughout the entire structure. The fox made his way back into her room, looking up at her perched among the damage. "There's a bunch of encrypted information here! Maybe it can help us figure out what exactly happened here!"

Nicole made her way down as the fox fished some of the papers out of his satchel. He handed her a bundle of them as she looked it over. "Did you happen to find a key to decrypt them?" She asked.

"Well, no. But maybe we could crack it, there a good chance if there was a key, it was destroyed with most of the data. Even these files are incomplete, they seem to be saved on a sort of 'black box' that survived the destruction of the computer."

Nicole eyed the pages curiously, there wasn't much she could make out, but she figured Rotor might be able to fetch them some more useful information, they'd have to give these to him.

The two pinged their consciousness to the portable device that was still with Sally and Sonic, quickly explaining their situation. They seemed impressed that they were even able to recover anything, but their curiosities were peeked as well. Someone had gone to great lengths to secure whatever was in these files.

Now, it was time to figure out why...

**Alright everyone, that's it for today! Let me know what your thought and I promise I'll be faster with the next updates! Until next time!**


	3. Encrypted

**Hey everyone! Time for another update to this story! Sorry for taking so long this time but I promise I'll get updates out more frequently now! We've got some reviews last time so let's get those!**

**Singerj199: Archie and SatAM have always been some of my favorite parts of the canon to play with there's a lot to mess with there and even one small change can have disastrous consequences!**

**Sonicfanandotherstuff: I guess you'll have to see what's in it for yourself!**

**Saul'keth: It's certainly a unique take on Miles' personality and traits. I imagine everyone's got their guesses as to who or what he could be however!**

**Alright everyone, that's all them, let's get going!**

**Central Intelligence**

_**Encrypted**_

"I'm sorry but, this thing's completely unsalvageable."

"What do you mean Rotor, we decrypt Robotnik's info all the time, why's this one any different?" Sonic asked, eyeing the walrus curiously, who just simply shook his head.

"We can decrypt Robotnik's info because there's normally only one or two levels of encryption on them. This thing, however, has ten… I could brute force it like we do with the others, bit it would take years before we had a result. Are we sure there's no encryption key?"

"We've had Nicole and Miles check the whole thing several times over." Sally responded, "But there's nothing there, we can keep looking but…"

What she had said was true, after it had been revealed that an encryption key was needed, they had dug up and carefully transported what was left of the computer back to Knothole, where Miles and Nicole had scoured its contents. They couldn't find anything new.

"It just seems odd," Rotor mused to himself. "I mean why leave a program designed to survive a catastrophic failure, encrypt it, and not provide a key to extract the encryption! It just seems like we're missing something."

"We'll keep looking but, I just don't think it's there…" Sally replied.

Meanwhile, the two AI bots were busy chatting with one another, "So… You don't have a weapon?" Nicole asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Miles responded. "I mean, I probably didn't need one after all. At least, maybe…"

Nicole produced a pair of swords, their ornate purple hilts and silver blades reflecting the digital sunlight. She offered one to Miles, "Well, you've got to learn sometime, why don't we start?"

As the kit reached out and touched the hilt of the weapon, its design morphed. The hilt became denser until it had changed into the base of a broadsword, the rapier thin blade thickened and became much heftier in his grasp, and the purple detailing turned a bright white with orange accents. However, the blade at least according to Miles, remained perfectly balanced. Nicole watched with curiosity, "Huh… I guess there's something in there!"

Miles looked at his new weapon in disbelief, "But, I don't have a sword... Why would I…"

"Maybe you just don't remember it!" Nicole suggested, "After all, most of your memory is locked up. There's a chance there's something hidden in there."

"Nicole, Miles?" The two heard the voice of Sally ask. "Rotor wants to talk to you two."

The kit handed the blade back to Nicole, as she touched it, it turned back to its usual appearance. "Maybe another time," Miles began.

The two materialized using the projector built into their housing, finding Rotor waiting for them. "Got anything new?"

"Not really… Nicole responded, "We've searched the whole machine."

Rotor tapped away on his keyboard for a moment, "I'm uploading the encrypted files to your databases. Maybe you two could figure something out…"

The page materialized in Nicole's hand and Miles' satchel, which he quickly ruffled through and found the file in question. The two just looked over the data for a moment, seemingly lost in thought until Nicole spoke. "Well, I don't see anything here, I mean, it's very heavily encrypted, but we already knew that…"

"I suspected as much," Rotor responded. "What about you Miles?"

The kit didn't respond, continuing to stare at the page.

"Miles?" Nicole asked, "You alright?"

The kitsune was silent for a few more moments before speaking, "I- I can read this…"

"You what!?" Rotor asked, seemingly shocked at the new development.

"I mean… We've seen this file before, but I didn't get too good of a look at it. It's slow, but I can figure this out… I don't know how but-"

"Its got to be your memories!" Nicole responded, "Whoever left this for us didn't leave us a key because you're the key! They wanted to make sure you were here!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't answer one question…" He responded.

"What?"

"Why me?"

The silence hung for a moment before Miles continued, "I mean… None of this makes sense… I'll keep working on this, I'll let you know when I'm done."

The kit dematerialized leaving only Nicole, Rotor, and the sense of confusion that filled the air…

"What's up with him?" Rotor asked.

"I don't know, he's been acting weird recently, I'll see if I can figure out..."

Nicole materialized in the virtual space; Miles was busy scanning over the pages that he had been given. "Hey Miles, what's up?"

"Not much, just trying to figure this out..."

"You've been acting kind of off recently, what's wrong?"

Miles sighed, "I mean... I'm just not sure what to think, I just want to know what happened to me... Where I came from you know."

"Hey," Nicole responded, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure this out, it seems like you're a part of all this. I imagine whoever left you like this intended for you to figure this out, maybe with some help. Otherwise, they wouldn't have made it so you're the only one who can decode this data."

"I guess you've got a point. I guess I'm just nervous that we'll never figure this out."

"Sure, we will! I promise, we'll find out where you're from, you have my word."

She extended her hand out to the kit, who shook on it.

"Thanks." He responded.

No problem, now, let's see if we can't figure this whole thing out."

**-X-**

Nicole beamed herself to the workshop, somewhat startling Rotor out of his work. "We're done!"

She was quickly joined by Miles, "It's a video file, we haven't looked at it yet so I figure we might as well look it over as a group."

Rotor agreed and quickly gathered the remainder of the Freedom Fighters, explaining what had occurred.

"Well then," Sonic responded. "Let's get this going!"

Nicole called for the video to appear on the main monitor, almost instantly the screen was filled with a purple cat, clad in a somewhat formal purple uniform with lighter trim. The background contained what appeared to be an underground compound, not unlike Knothole. However, it appeared much more modernized and almost seemed like the remnants of a military bunker with the solid gray metal as walls.

"I guess I've got some explaining to do here," The cat began. "My name's Blaze, and if you're hearing this, I hope Tails is with you… We created this black box program to ensure that even after we were captured or killed, whoever found this could still locate and potentially continue off where we started. There will be more information as you go concerning our mission and locations of our compounds."

The Freedom Fighters continued to watch with utmost curiosity as she continued, "Tails, you're probably confused right now and that's intentional. We needed to make sure you could only help somebody who was going to help you, so we ensured that you'd be able to decrypt the information found in these files. Your memories were locked up so Robotnik wouldn't be able to find out everything about us… They'll be restored as you go, I'm sorry we had to do this for you, but it was better Robotnik never find out about us... I will disclose more of our mission as we go, and I trust that whoever finds this will figure out a way to use it for good."

The cat paused for a moment before finishing. "I wish whoever you are the best of luck, until we meet again..."

The Freedom Fighters were in disbelief, but not as much as Miles was, having learned that his memory loss was intentional, along with the fact that whoever it was in that message knew him, and called him by name. His name was Tails, he received a notification that a new file had been created by the video. Before he could check it however, Nicole interrupted.

"That created a new file, it's a set of coordinates."

Sonic was the first to break the uncomfortable silence, "Miles, how you doing?"

It took him a moment to respond, "I'm not sure… I mean, this doesn't really answer any questions, it just gives me more… Who was she? How does she know me? What am I? What do I have that Robotnik wants? It just gives more questions than answers..."

"There's a reason they hid all this..." Sally mused, "You wouldn't go through this much effort to just hide away a compound or some information about themselves, this is more..."

"But what?" Nicole asked.

"I'm not sure," The princess responded. "I guess all that's left is to travel to those coordinates and find out."

Sonic looked over at the still somewhat dumbstruck fox, "You ready Miles?"

"Yeah... And, call me Tails."

**Alright everybody, that's it for today! I promise I'll get the next update out soon! Until next time!**


	4. Revelations

**Hey everybody! It's time for another chapter of this story! I've got the reviews so let's get started!**

**Sonicfanandotherstuff: Yeah, Blaze didn't really answer anything did she? In fact, Tails probably feels about the same way you do! There are even more questions to answer now!**

**Wingwolfly: The Freedom Fighters are just as curious, who is she and what does she know about Tails? Hopefully they'll get some answers at where she specified!**

**Guest: Their relationship is certain to change over the course of the story, but I'm not going to disclose any information now. You'll have to keep reading to find out!**

**Let's get going!**

**Central Intelligence**

_**Revelations**_

"Alright, so..." Sally began, "We've got a set of coordinates and a message from an unknown party. Seemingly, their research, and whatever information Tails has is so important that his memory had to be locked up so Robotnik or anyone they didn't trust couldn't get their hands on it. We're going to have to head there to figure out what's next and to maybe get a step closer to figuring out exactly what is so important. Nicole, Tails, you guys got that location figured out yet?"

"We have indeed, it appears to be located in the snowy mountainous region to our north." Nicole responded, "Its elevation suggests that there will need to be some amount of climbing involved."

"Alright, so we've got somewhat of a plan, me and Sonic are going to take Nicole and Tails with us. Meanwhile, the rest of you guys stay behind to make sure Robotnik doesn't get any ideas while we're gone."

Everyone nodded in agreement and began to pack supplies and warm clothing for the trip. Sally donning a thick light blue cloak and matching boots, while Sonic wore a brown parka with red and white boots.

The two hopped into the Tornado and took off toward the coordinates, Sally helping to relay directions. The two AIs were actually rather busy with a conversation of their own.

"So, Tails, what do you hope to find here?" Nicole asked, "That message didn't really give us any answers."

The other AI mulled over the question for a moment, "I guess I'm just looking for answers as to why I'm like this… I mean, whatever's in my memory has got to be important, I'm not sure if I trust myself to hold it, not that I have a choice. I'm just confused…"

"I imagine, hopefully whoever this Blaze is gets us some answers. Until then, do you want to practice with the swords a bit? I'm still going to teach you!"

Tails smiled, "Yeah!"

**-X-**

"Alright Sonic, we're getting close, hopefully we'll find somewhere to land."

"Relax Sal, I'm a professional here!" Sonic responded, "It is kind of chilly though…"

Sally couldn't help but agree, the mountains were practically covered in snow, though its exact depth was unknown she could tell it was quite deep this time of year. The frigid air being made colder by the speed the Tornado flew at.

The aircraft landed gently at the base of a small incline, the princess immediately hopped out and checked their coordinates. "It should be a bit of the way up, we're close to where Blaze mentioned, but it doesn't seem like anybody's been here in a long time…"

Sonic had to agree, the untouched snow sparkled in the sunlight of the afternoon. But without any discernable footprints or structure, it appeared that they place had been all but abandoned. The two Mobians made their way up the side of the incline, eventually reaching the peak of the hill. As they did, they still found only empty snow stretching on in every direction.

"Sally," Nicole began. "I'm detecting a metal object beneath both of your feet, perhaps the compound is buried?"

She nodded and her and Sonic began digging at the layers of snow beneath them, Sonic ran back to retrieve a shovel from the Tornado, which was usually used for if the aircraft got stuck, and it would more than likely speed up their excavation.

After digging for about fifteen minutes, the hatch became visible to the group. Sally brushed off the final layer of snow and opened the seal. A ladder descended into the darkness below. The two Mobians glanced at each other.

"Well, I guess this was what Blaze wanted us to find…" Sonic mused, grabbing hold of one of the rungs. "I guess I was just expecting to find others here…"

"Blaze did say Tails' mind was erased because they had been captured or killed and knowing Robotnik, I'm inclined to think the latter." Sally responded, joining Sonic in his decent. As the boots touched the bottom the two tried to adjust their vision to the darkness as Sally reached into her cloak and produced a flashlight, she gave a second one to Sonic as Nicole chimed in. "By the looks of this structure, it can't be more than a couple years old. It appears to have been abandoned sometime within the last year or so."

"This place gives me the creeps." Tails added.

"Well this is where Blaze said to go." Sonic responded, "Hopefully we'll at least figure something out here. I'd at least like to know what happened to whoever stayed here for sure."

The main living area appeared to have been ransacked, even the concrete walls had everything torn from them. There wasn't much left but frigid air. Sonic made his way further back toward a small sleeping area, four sets of bunks lined the walls, each with a box placed at both ends. Searching through the boxes lead to little of use, as all of them were empty save for the dust. That was, until the fifth box. Inside was something that puzzled Sonic; a short brown scarf sat in the container. While it wasn't the object that made his curious however, it was a small flash drive that it was wrapped around. As he pulled it out however, he noticed the red bloodstains that had dried into the fabric of the cloth, along with the revelation that one of its ends was charred. His eyes widened as he suddenly recalled where he had seen this scarf.

"Sally!" He exclaimed, dashing out of the room. He passed the garment to her, "Does this look familiar!?"

Sally was suddenly struck with the same realization as Sonic, she quickly called for Tails and Nicole. The two AIs materialized and their worst suspicions were confirmed…

The scarf was a perfect match to the one wrapped around Tails' neck. The kitsune's eyes widened as he noticed it, his hands instinctively gripping the digital one around his neck. "I- Is that... My scarf?"

"Seems like it, your version doesn't have the blood stains, right?"

"No..."

There was a tense silence between the group for a moment, "Well, there's also this." Sally added, presenting the flash drive. "Maybe there's something on here that can help us."

The drive was attached to the portable housing and Nicole started to go through the files. Miles would have helped but he still appeared physically distressed by the presence of another copy of his scarf, much less one that was covered in blood.

"I've found another video file," Nicole quickly responded. "I'll play it now."

Instantly, another image projected itself, revealing Blaze once again, the background had changed however to the bunk room that Sonic had seen earlier. Meaning this had been recorded in this bunker.

"It seems you've found what you're looking for." The cat began, "Maybe you can be trusted after all… I suppose I should give some more explaining as to the nature of our project along with who I am. Where you currently are, assuming you've played this message in the bunker you found it in is an old abandoned outpost of ours. We called ourselves 'Team Misfit', mainly because none of us really fit in where we belonged. I'll cover the other members later but what matters is that we had one goal, and that was to end the war…"

She paused momentarily before continuing, "We eventually figured that through the use of Chaos Energy from one of the Chaos Emeralds, which we had in our possession, we could create something to give us the firepower we needed. In doing so, we discovered information that would turn the tide of the war if it was properly implemented. We discovered not only how to store Chaos Energy away from the emerald safely, but also how to amplify its strength and power. While we could use this newfound information, it was critical we keep it out of Robotnik's hands. Allow me to theorize for you what would happen should Robotnik learn of this information."

The Freedom Fighters listened intently as she continued her explanation, "With Chaos Energy acting as the power source for all of his machines, they would be near unstoppable. Each one powered by almost a miniature Chaos Emerald, giving them power unheard of ever before… They would crush any and all opposition before they could even react with new abilities granted by their connection to the ancient gods. This is why I must ensure this information doesn't fall into Robotnik's hands…"

The assembled Mobians shuddered, the scene described just scratched the surface of what could be done, yet it gave them all chills. The cat continued, "I will not be giving you any more information at this time, but I will tell you the next step if you are really to be trusted." Her tone noticeably changed before continuing anew, becoming much more somber. "Tails, I know you're probably concerned about what else you found with this drive, and I don't think you're ready for the answer yet… Just know that I'm still really sorry for what happened, even if you don't know what it was that I did to make you like this… It's my fault you're like this, and I hope that I can somehow make it up to you…"

The video ended with nothing else said, leaving all the Mobians in the room to puzzle over the new revelation that they had been given…

**Alright guys, that's all for today! I hope you enjoyed! I'm sorry for such a long wait on this chapter but I've had a lot going on, I promise the next one will be quicker! Until next time!**


	5. Fallout

**Hello everyone! It's about time I got to publishing this, sorry for the long wait! I'll get right into the reviews!**

**Singerj199: It definitely had some interesting bits, and more than a few things were brought up that currently we don't have an answer to!**

**Saul'keth: There's certainly some things that allow you to make assumptions here, everyone's coming to their own conclusions, even Tails!**

**Sonicfanandotherstuff: Blaze certainly has regrets about something, but it's even more confusing by the fact that Tails has no memory of what it would be!**

**Wingwolfwhy: Team Misfit had a plan, and while that plan seemingly went astray, they had noble intentions, we'll learn more of them as Blaze continues to reveal information as we progress!**

**Ieju: The bloody scarf was certainly an interesting inclusion, but it seems to be mostly for Tails' sake, as for why, you'll have to read to find out!**

**Hjue44: Everyone is certain to have their own ideas and theories now, especially as more and more is revealed!**

**Yori Micah: Glad to have you back, there was some new info revealed in your absence and I recommend reading the previous chapters to get caught up on recent developments!**

**Alright everyone, one last thing before we start, I recently published a poll on my profile asking if you guys would like to see another long story from me, or if you'd like to continue seeing the shorter ones like I've been doing recently! Any input on that would be appreciated so please check out my profile if you can! Let's get going!**

**Central Intelligence**

**_Fallout_**

Nicole was still busy puzzling over what had been said. While Blaze had left them with more questions than answers for now, there was one thing that haunted both the AIs…

That scarf…

It was a perfect match for the one Tails wore, outside of the bloodstains and burns of course, and during the ride back on the Tornado, Sally had asked her to run a DNA scan on the blood. All it did was confirm everyone's worst fears… The blood belonged to a fox. It was old, just over a year in fact, meaning that it very likely belonged to Tails, whom was not taking the revelation lightly, in fact, he almost appeared to be having a mental breakdown, or at least his equivalent of it. He hadn't responded to anything and every time Nicole saw him inside their shared digital space, he appeared to be heavily stressed, curled up into a ball of sorts as he quietly mumbled under his breath to himself. He rocked back and forth somewhat uncontrollably as his anxiety hit new highs.

"Tails? Are you alright?" Nicole asked, internally knowing what the answer would be.

"No I'm not… I'm not even sure what to think. I mean, if that scarf is really mine then…"

"It's just as surprising for me."

"It means I was alive at some point! I'm dead! Do you have any idea what-"

"It doesn't mean exactly that you're dead! Maybe it's something else!"

"Like what?"

"Maybe you had your mind uploaded to this device? Maybe it's not even yours? What if whoever made you wore the same scarf? I don't find it unlikely that another fox would have made an AI that looked like one of his own species!"

"I know but... Blaze tried to apologize to me for something, if I could just remember what it is then we could be out of this mess!"

"I wish it were that simple, but whoever this Blaze is or was seemingly wants to make sure we can be trusted before giving you all your memories back. You more than likely hold the secret to ending this war Tails, after all, imagine what could be done with amplifying Chaos Energy!"

"I guess you're right. Besides, we're making good progress on this whole thing, so I suppose I shouldn't worry about it too much… But… I just can't shake the feeling that I used to be a Mobian like Sonic and Sally, which brings up new questions if it's true."

"Like what?"

"How did I die, for starters, and probably, who put me here. I mean, somebody would have actually had to have gone through the work of creating an exact replica of my memories and personality, let alone create a sentient AI. Something which, to them, was probably near impossible." Tails stopped for a moment before turning to Nicole, "Have you ever wanted to have been a Mobian? Like, to have a body and everything?"

The lynx sighed, "I… Do sometimes, the main thing is just that I don't really get to choose where I go or what I want to do sometimes you know? I'd just like to really have some free will sometimes, or maybe to actually experience the world..."

"Yeah… Well, I'm just going to think on what happened for a bit. I'll be back."

The kitsune dematerialized, leaving Nicole to herself, with both of them continuing to contemplate what they had seen.

**-X-**

The hovercraft touched down in the smoldering ruin. To think that just months ago, they had found and outed another group of resistance fighters here. As the Swat Bots made their way out of the transport, Snively smiled to himself. Here was here for one thing and one thing alone however, and that was information. You see, they had left a computer tower here after going through all the information stored on it, information that interested Robotnik greatly. Beginning the search through the rubble however, the Swat Bots returned empty handed. This confused Snively, after all, they had gone to serious lengths to keep it concealed, along with the fact that the machine was well beyond repair, so much so that Ivo had just decided to grab a copy of the information stored within, not an easy task with the condition that it had been it, but they had succeeded none the less.

As the man continued to rummage through the rubble along with the Swat Bots, he eventually noticed something, something so minor that if he hadn't noticed it, they might have been stumped on the tower's whereabouts for a long time. A singular blue quill was nestled in the rocks. They had been here… This left no question as to where the terminal was, but more importantly, there was also no question on his mind as to what they were attempting to do with it. You see, he and Ivo knew what was on the drive, a set of heavily encrypted code that even with their combined genius they couldn't crack. Yet, the resistance fighters that had been based here had been willing to defend with their lives. Whatever was encrypted with those files was important…

With his newfound discovery, he figured he'd report back to Robotnik, after all, what could the Freedom Fighters do with the data that they couldn't? They had been thorough in their search for anyway to access the information stored on the drive, going through every note and scrap of information that they had gathered, searching through the files for the machine, even attempting to pry the information from the captured Mobians…

Maybe he'd have to pay them a visit again…

He began to make his way to the ship; the Freedom Fighters were more than likely just as stumped as they were with the information gathered from that computer. After all, it's not like they knew the decryption key either. As the hovercraft took off, Snively smiled to himself, it was time to get some answers…

**-X-**

Tails sighed to himself, he was still no closer to finding any answers… After they had accessed the files on the flash drive, an assault of memories had flooded his mind at such a velocity and ferociousness that he hadn't had the time to go over them. Now, left to his own devices, he started viewing the scraps of his past. Memories of other Mobians he'd never met started appearing to him, but there was still no confirmation of how he'd met them in the first place, or where they were now.

He had a bit more knowledge on Blaze as well, which answered a few questions that the Freedom Fighters had about her. It confirmed their suspicions that Blaze had known Miles, or had helped build him in some capacity. Though again, all their other questions were still left unanswered. It was starting to get to Tails, he needed answers on to who he was and what happened to him. While Blaze had given them a new set of coordinates after her most recent video, it was much further away then they had hoped. Making it difficult, even with the Tornado at their disposal, the rest of the Freedom Fighters were discussing the plan and deciding what to do. All the while, Tails' mind was still being torn apart by the thought that he might, at some point, have been more than just a machine…

**Alright everyone, that's it for today. Next chapter we should hopefully finally have some answers as to what happened to Tails! Let me know your thoughts and please fill out the poll on my profile if you have the chance! Until next time!**


	6. Dispatch

**Hey everyone! It's time for another update here! Let's get going!**

**Sonicfanandotherstuff: He's certainly upset by the fact that there's things he should know and he just can't remember them. But with Blaze's guidance they'll hopefully be able to figure it out!:**

**Ieju: Robotnik has his own plans, he always does. But until then we'll have to see how the Freedom Fighters continue with discovering what's happened with Tails and how he came to be!**

**Alright, let's get going!**

**Central Intelligence**

_**Dispatch**_

"So what you're saying is that those miserable rodents are after whatever's on that drive?"

"Exactly, in fact, I'm going to argue that they're making progress on it."

"How so?" Robotnik responded, shifting in his throne as a curious expression crossed his features.

"Have you noticed that their attacks have almost ceased entirely?" Snively continued.

After a short pause, the response came. "How do believe that they've managed to figure it out? We've been working on that thing for months now! You've seen the depth of the encryption yourself, what makes you think they've done better than us?"

"Because I believe they have found a decryption key…"

"Of course they haven't! One doesn't exist, we scoured the ruins of that base!" Robotnik replied, seemingly becoming more and more intrigued with everything.

"I believe we may not have found everything, or, shall I say… Everyone."

"You think that a whole Mobian escaped? Then why did the other four get captured? Couldn't they have done the same thing?"

"We could ask them ourselves…"

Robotnik allowed a grin to cross his features, he had completely forgotten about her. Maybe Snively was on to something, however unlikely it was. Oblivious to the smile, Snively continued. "The layout of their base implied that there was five of them, or at least that they did. Perhaps their final member left their group before and still has the information."

"That is certainly a possibility… Snively, have you been able to track that plane?"

"We're close, though we still have no idea where it could potentially land after it enters the tree tops. Their recent travels have helped with that substantially."

"Prepare those two Robians, tell them to follow that piece of junk the next time it takes off."

"B- But, this could ruin our chances at espionage! If we meet them at the landing site, they'll know we can follow them!"

"It doesn't matter." The scientist continued, rising from his throne. "You will stop them from making any more progress, no matter the price. In the meantime, I think I'll pay our little friend a visit…"

**-X-**

"Look, as much as I want to we can't keep taking long range travels like this!"

"Why's that? I don't see what's stopping us!?"

Sally sighed, rubbing her temples, of course he wouldn't understand… "Sonic if we leave Robotnik to his own devices for this long, he's going to win. The only reason he hasn't already is because we keep hitting him so he has to rebuild."

"Yeah, but if we figure this thing out it could win the war! Don't you want that?"

"Yes, but what if we're not anywhere close? This Blaze person has sent us to several places already, what's to say there isn't more?"

Sonic didn't have a response to that, it was a solid argument. So, he decided he'd rather switch his argument. "What about Tails? He still doesn't have his memories? Don't you feel like we should help him?"

Now it was Sally's turn to be stuck. There wasn't much she could say without sounding like a monster or giving up to Sonic, which was something she wasn't about to do. "Sonic, that's not an option maybe if we knew this had the information maybe, but as it looks right now, it's not going to be sure and if we're idle for much longer we'll lose this war."

"We won't be long! It'll just be in and out, just like last time!"

"What makes you so sure about that?"

"It's just a gut instinct alright, and besides, I can be fast! Do you even know who you're talking to?"

Sally mentally sighed, there was no point in reasoning with him. So she thought it through, there was one way this would all work. She didn't like it but what other choice was there?

"Alright," She began. "Here's the deal, we'll stay here and you can go with Tails and Nicole to figure out what's there, while the rest of us hit Robotnik."

Sonic considered the plan for a moment before responding, "Alright, let's do it!"

"Sonic, I need you to be careful, you're not going to have anybody with you."

"Relax Sal, I'll be fine. Besides, it's in the middle of nowhere! There's not going to be any of Robotnik's forces there, even if there were, I'd trash them just like usual!"

"That's not what I'm scared of, just, make sure you don't get lost."

Sonic stood from his seat, "Can do! I'll be back before you even realize I'm gone!"

The hedgehog made his way back toward the Tornado's hanger, grabbing the device that Nicole and Tails were stored on, as he did the two of them materialized on the device.

"So, what did you two decide?" Tails asked, his head cocking slightly to one side.

"You two are coming with me, the rest of the Freedom Fighters are staying here and attacking Robotnik. We're going to figure out what's at those coordinates and then get back here before they even have to think about it!"

"Did Sally approve of this?" Nicole asked.

"I mean, would I be doing this if she didn't?"

"You haven't been known to be the most predictable in the past."

"Got me there." The hedgehog responded, jumping into the seat of the plane and taking off. "Nicole, can you tell me which way I should be heading?"

After a second of silence, the response came. "You're going to want to turn about sixty degrees to the left."

Sonic nodded and adjusted his course according, after flying in silence for a bit, Sonic decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for a while.

"So, Tails how you holding up?"

"I'm… Not sure…" Came the response as the kitsune materialized, "I mean some of my memories are back, but I know I'm still missing things."

"What's back?"

"I remember, some Mobians, though how I knew them is still missing. There's a wolf named Whisper, a lemur named Tangle, and hedgehog named Silver, and Blaze."

"Do you think they were the 'Team Misfit' that Blaze mentioned? Do you think you were part of them? I mean, you'd certainly fit the description with those tails of yours."

"Maybe, but that's not really what's on my mind… I'm just thinking about that scarf…"

"Yeah, I am too. It just seems too perfect you know? Like, what if you were-"

"I'd rather not think about it." Tails interrupted.

"I mean, you're going to have to think about it at some point. It's just too good of a match with that one around your neck for it to be a coincidence."

The AI didn't respond for a moment, seemingly going over the response for a moment. "If it does turn out to be true though, that just brings up more questions. What happened to me? I obviously didn't do this to myself, so who did? Blaze seems to know something but we're not even sure if she's alive." The kit's expression was puzzled, the bag he wore rested on his side as his scarf dangled idly as his thoughts continued to overtake his thinking.

"Tails? Mobius to Tails?" Nicole's voice came, snapping the other AI out of his contemplative state.

"S- Sorry," He responded. "Just got lost in my thoughts there."

"It's alright, we're getting close. So we're going to be landing soon."

Tails nodded in response. A few minutes later, the plane touched down in a section of forest. Sonic hopped out of the craft, grabbing the shovel as he did and made his way through the trees, eventually locating the area they were supposed to be in.

"Alright you two," He began. "What do you got?"

"There appears to be a hatch covered by dirt a few steps in, you're going to need to dig for it."

"I suspected as such." The hedgehog responded, taking a few steps forward. Thrusting the shovel into the dirt, he heard a solid metallic bang. Continuing to dig, the hatch was eventually opened, revealing a ladder to the depths not unlike the ones from before. "Well, in we go!"

Descending the shaft, the hedgehog was met with some basic living quarters. Unlike the last one however, this appeared to be in much better shape and if he didn't know better, he might have thought someone might still be here.

After traveling through the hallways for a bit, he came across what appeared to be a central computer, it wasn't much, but it seemed like it would still work. He attached Nicole and Miles' housing to the device. "Alright, work your magic!"

Almost instantly, the two AI rematerialized. "Got it!" Miles added.

"Well, play it, hopefully this will tell us more about what happened to you!"

The two AI loaded up the program, causing them to be face to face with Blaze again. "Well," The feline commented. "I didn't expect you to get this far if I'm being honest. But, I suppose if you have, then Tails trusts you and thinks that you'll use this power for good. He's a better judge of character than I am, so I suppose I can trust you."

Blaze paused for continuing, seemingly collecting her thoughts. "Tails, I assume you've figured out the truth by now. I'm here to tell you that you're right… You're dead…"

With those two words, Tails' mind was sent into a frenzy. He tried to keep the thoughts at Bay long enough to finish the transmission however as Blaze continued, "It's my fault, but I think it's time you learn what happened."

Unbeknownst to the group however, two pairs of metallic ears were listening in on every word…

**Alright everybody, that's it for today. I know I'm leaving you on a cliff hanger, but the next chapter is going to be dedicated to "The Truth". I hope you all enjoyed this one and hopefully it won't be long! Until next time!**


	7. The Truth

**Hello! I think it's about time for another chapter here! If any of you didn't know already, I recently moved into my college dorm! So hopefully I'll be able to keep a decent upload schedule, even with the craziness! Let's get going as we have quite a few reviews!**

**Ieju: I'd say you were quite early! I imagine a lot of people got their suspicions confirmed by Blaze last chapter, including Tails himself! We'll have to hear what she says about it though!**

**Saul'keth: They're certainly an interesting pair, and I've been wanting to put them in something for a while!**

**Wingwolfly: With Blaze's explanation of what happened the group will hopefully get some answers! As for the two Robians, we'll have to wait and see what they're up to!**

**Sonicfanandotherstuff: Can't say there wasn't suspicions about it, but yeah, it's still something else having it confirmed!**

**Singerj199: I tried by beat with the dialogue and the buildup to the inevitable conclusion here, the cut off was very deliberate, as we're going to be figuring out what happened in this chapter! After I'd finished that cut off, I'd said to myself "That's a really brutal spot to cut." XD**

**Alright, before we begin however, I will warn you there is some serious content in this chapter, and while it isn't too bad, it might put you off if you're a bit squeamish. With that said let's get started!**

**Central Intelligence**

_**The Truth**_

"I probably owe you an explanation…" Blaze continued. As she began, her words and Tails' memories now painted a vivid picture of the events in their minds.

The compound was alive with activity, Tails looked up from their project across the workshop. "Whisper, how's that device doing? I don't want to make this thing explode in our faces!"

The wolf was currently watching a device designed to amplify Chaos Energy, which was currently being fed across the room into the fox's work. It had been acting up recently but they needed to get this thing done today, besides, it was only a matter of time until Robotnik located the small red gemstone placed in the center.

"Good, keep going." Came the reply from the wolf, she didn't talk much, but seemed to be rather knowledgeable of machines herself, especially with the rifle she kept on her being powered by an unknown source that she didn't want to share.

Tails turned back to his project, a set of five explosive charges fueled by pure Amplified Chaos Energy. It had taken quite a bit of work to get these things operational, but it was going to be well worth the firework show that it caused.

After working for another couple hours, the devices were complete. He called the other members of Team Misfit to join him in the workshop as he explained how they worked.

"So," Tangle responded, seemingly eager as ever. "When do we get to smash some robots!?"

"Not quite yet Tangle, I'm going to explain how these things work, trust me, you'll get to destroy as many robots as you want."

"Good, because I'm tired of hiding!"

"Alright, so we've managed to get five of these things together." The fox continued, "They're powered by way too much Chaos Energy for their own good, so we need to be careful with these things. Luckily, they're not armed yet, but once we get in and place these charges on a few spots. You press the button on each side simultaneously and they'll arm."

"So, how exactly do we set them off?" Silver asked, "I mean, I don't feel like being near them when they explode!"

"I was just getting to that." Tails responded, reaching over to his workbench and retrieving what looked to be a small detonator. "Blaze, once we're all out, you can hit this button and all of them should go off if they're armed. It's going to be a really powerful explosion so we need to make sure that we're out of range. This thing is really fragile, so be careful with it.

He handed the detonator to Blaze, who looked it over for a bit. "I've got to say, I think you two have out done yourselves this time."

Whisper and the fox were practically beaming at the compliment as the group prepared to depart. Tails placed the charges in a small satchel and slung it over his shoulder, along with putting on a brown scarf that he normally wore. It was the last reminder of his parents; they had given it to him before they had died in Robotnik's invasion. Wiping a singular tear out of his eye, he made his way to the exit of the compound as the other members began to arrive. Eventually they set off into the trees and toward the city.

**-X-**

It had been about an hour when the fortified walls of Robotropolis came into view. Scouting from along the edge of the forest, Blaze called everyone over for one last check.

"Alright, we all know our targets. We've all got radios, and we've each got one of these explosives, don't let them go to waste. If something goes wrong, say it, we can't mess this up.

The assembled Mobians nodded in agreement as they made their way toward the walls, the shadows of the evening light hiding their approach. Once they reached the edge, Silver's hands began to flow a bright cyan and the group slowly rose into the air. Tails felt the familiar weightless sensation with a sense of happiness, this was his favorite part. As they moved over the wall and landed on the other side, the group split up, moving to different sections of the city.

Blaze carried the detonator in one hand, and her charge in the other as she approached one of the foundries where Swat Bots were being constructed. Destroying this thing would certainly do damage to Robotnik's forces and would more than likely leave him crippled for weeks, assuming what Tails and Whisper had said about the strength of the explosive were true.

Making her way through the building, avoiding guards wherever she could, she slowly made her way toward the center of the area. Dropping down from an observation catwalk, she attached the charge to the nearby power supply and pressed both buttons, arming the device. The red-light present on it glowing in anticipation, Blaze released a breath she didn't even know she was holding and began making her way back out of the structure. Taking care to keep the detonator secure.

Making her way outside and back toward the wall where they had entered over, she was completely focused on getting out of here as fast as possible, so much so that she failed to notice as a blaster bolt whizzed past her. Looking over, Blaze realized she had just walked into a squadron of patrolling Swat Bots, who immediately trained their weapons on her. Materializing a ball of fire in her free left hand, she propelled it at the nearest guard. Knocking him over and after a brief moment, causing it to explode. Sending bits of metal flying all over, the remaining guards opened fire, and while many of them missed their targets, a singular shot managed to strike her in her right arm, causing her to drop the detonator. The device bounced once as it fell and for a moment, time stood still…

Then, the explosions started…

Her's had been the nearest, and it was much bigger than she had even thought possible, throwing pieces of concrete and metal through the air. The Swat Bots were completely destroyed, parts of nearby buildings tumbling down atop them. More explosions shook the ground around her as instantly her thoughts turned to panic. As the sounds of the blast died down, she grabbed her radio.

"Is everyone alright!?" She asked, her normally calm and stoic tone being replaced with pure fear.

"Fine," Whisper responded.

"I'm alright here!" Tangle added, "But you can't just set that-"

"I'm good," Silver replied.

Then, the radio went silent.

"Tails?" Blaze asked, her voice gradually growing louder. "Tails!?"

She knew he'd been tasked to set the charge in the communications array, which wasn't far from her. She raced faster than she ever had, the whole time fearing the worst. As she approached the now destroyed tower, she started to tear through the rubble. Only to be horrified at what she saw.

To say the fox was hurt, would be a very severe understatement…

The left half of his body had been practically torn apart, exposed bone, torched fur, and burnt skin covered his body. She didn't even want to think about what had happened to his left arm and leg... A pool of blood had started to gather around him, saturating his fur with red. She quickly gathered the fox's small body in her arms, feeling his light, shallow, raspy breathing and his faint heartbeat as the only indication that he was still alive.

"_This can't be happening; this can't be happening." _Repeated in her head as the only thing that was on her mind as she approached the area where they were set to meet, as she came into view, the other Mobian's eyes went wide in horror. Silver wasted no time lifting them over the wall and toward safety, Blaze sprinted into the trees, adrenaline and desperation running through her veins. Tails shifted in her arms, weakly gripping the hem of her outfit.

"It hurts…" Was the only thing that he muttered; Blaze gave no response. Focused on getting Tails help, no matter what it took. The fox let out a few weak coughs, expelling blood with each one.

Reaching the compound in record time, she practically threw herself down the entrance. The remainder of the group followed closely behind as they scrambled for medical supplies.

"Tails just hang on ok!?" Blaze told him, setting him down on a nearby bed. "Y- You're going to be alright!"

Even as she said it, Blaze knew this statement was a lie. Tails was far from alright, and he was still slipping away with every passing moment. She removed his bag and scarf, the latter saturated with blood and burnt on the ends, setting them aside. Starting to try and do anything to stem the bleeding, the fox's faint voice piercing like daggers into the entire team. "I- I'm cold…"

"Don't say that Tails! You're going to be ok," Blaze responded, though she wasn't really sure if the second half of that statement was for Tails or herself.

The fox only got weaker as time went, his breathing got slower and slower as time went on, only adding to the panic of the other Mobians. Try as they might, nothing was enough… Eventually, the kitsune took in one final breath, and then fell still and silent…

Then, the tears began…

Everybody present had lost somebody before, but never had it been as painful as this. But more than anybody else, Tails' death shot daggers through Blaze's heart.

"_This is all your fault!" _Her mind screamed at her, only adding to her guilt and sorrow. The tears of guilt continued to rain down and mix with the hints of Tails' blood on her outfit. She gripped the blood-soaked scarf that she had grabbed. A remnant of his parents for Tails, and one of him for Blaze…

**-X-**

Nobody could sleep that night, Blaze especially so. The complete overwhelming guilt she felt for something that was so easily preventable was destroying her. So, when Whisper made her way back into the workshop, she thought nothing of it. Meanwhile in the bedroom, nobody else could sleep either, Silver and Tangle both sat silently, wondering if there was something they could have done to stop this. But the now empty bunk haunted both of them. Eventually, as morning rose, the group held a small funeral. Burying what was left of the kitsune underground, marking his grave with a small white flower. It wasn't much, but it was the best they could give.

Hours, turned to days, turned to weeks, turned to a month… But the guilt never left, so when Whisper approached Blaze one day with a plan to maybe bring Tails back, she instantly accepted.

"I've told you before," Silver responded, a sorrowful tone filling his voice. "Time travel doesn't work like that."

"Why not? This is a chance to save Tails!" Blaze replied, Whisper nodded along silently with her.

"I could maybe send one of us back a month, but doing so could kill me, and maybe you as well. It's why I couldn't save Tails… I could have rewound time, but in the state, he was in, even just a few seconds could have killed him. Plus, it would cause irreparable damage to the time stream sending someone back that far. We could break time as we know it, you know I'd do anything to bring him back, but it's just not possible…"

Blaze sighed in defeat; this is what she'd expected anyways. However, Whisper immediately raised a new question. "Why not him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Could you send him back?"

"I could, but it wouldn't bring him back to life. It'd just give us a corpse again, no matter how far I went back, time doesn't work that way."

The wolf seemed to think on this for a while, before pulling out a small handheld notebook. Blaze instantly recognized it as Tails'. After seemingly searching through the pages for a while, she looked up. "You can do it? Right?"

Silver was a bit taken aback by the question but nodded.

"I don't need him alive," Whisper responded, suddenly causing the other two Mobians to realize what she was implying.

"Whisper, we can't just go dig up his grave!" Silver responded.

"But this is a chance to bring him back." The wolf responded, using quite possibly the most words Blaze had ever heard from her ever. "We have to try…"

A few minutes later, Blaze and Tangle were outside with shovels. The clumps of solid compacted dirt after a month now were proving quite difficult to move. It didn't help that neither felt good defiling the grave of one of their best friends, even if it could save him.

"I can't do this…" Blaze spoke, "I know it could save him I just…"

"You're alright," Tangle responded, an unusual solemn tone in her words. "This I think isn't something I'd ever thought of doing. What even is Whisper's plan here?"

"I wish I knew… But she's got Tails' notes with her, so for all I know he planned for this to happen."

"You know she doesn't talk much, but I trust her. If she's got a plan, then it's going to work."

"Still doesn't make me feel any better about this..."

After a handful of minutes, they managed to locate the fox's corpse, the sight of which immediately caused Tangle to expel the contents of her lunch. Blaze retrieved Silver and returned to the site. The hedgehog's palms started to glow a bright cyan, he appeared to be struggling with the task at hand but after a moment, the fox's corpse was whole again. Collapsing in exhaustion for a second once he was done. "Don't ever make me do this again."

Blaze had retrieved the now lifeless body and carried it into the compound. Setting him down inside the workshop where Whisper was hard at work on something. "Alright, you're going to explain what's going on!"

Whisper replied, "Tails designed a device which could allow someone's brain to be turned into a computer program. But never finished it himself. That's why I needed him; I need his brain."

"So that's what you're trying to do? That why you didn't need him alive?"

"Yes, I know it might be wrong to do this. But Tails was one of my only friends... We have to try..."

Blaze agreed that the moral implications of what they'd done were questionable at best, but if Tails had designed it and Whisper had built it. Then maybe this might just work.

Once the machine was hooked up, Whisper took a step back and threw the switch. Nothing happened momentarily, and it left her wondering if she'd done something wrong, but then the device started to emit a low humming noise, and a transfer of sorts began. Whisper smiled, knowing that she'd done everything right.

"_This is for you Tails,"_ She thought to herself. After an hour or two, during which the group sat with baited breath, the transfer completed. Whisper took one look at the file, before allowing it to run. Almost instantly the image of Tails appeared on one of the displays, his eyes were wide with panic and he seemed to be panting, as if he'd just woken up from a nightmare.

"Where am I!?" He asked to himself, seemingly not yet noticing the other Mobians present, he put his knees to his chest and sat down. Trying his best to calm down. Eventually, he seemingly relaxed, taking note of the other Mobians. "Guys? What happened to me?"

It took a second before Blaze answered, "Tails… You died a month ago…"

The fox's world span at the sentence, so much so that he went silent for a bit trying to take it all in. After several minutes, he finally responded, "H- How am I here then?"

"I used your notes," Whisper explained. "The ones about uploading someone's consciousness to a machine. I thought maybe I could do it for you."

Tails actually smiled at the statement, "I didn't think I meant that much to all of you… But, I guess I can take this as a second chance. I wish I could give you all a hug right now."

"I think we're all thinking the same thing Tails." Blaze responded.

It took quite a few weeks for the kitsune to get used to the powers and limitations his new form granted him. He was notably concerned with the fact that he didn't need to sleep or eat anymore, and that he never seemed to get tired. But he quickly got over those thoughts. His new electronic form however gave the group new angles to attack from, and more than once had the kit been allowed to hijack a Swat Bot and go to town. All that really mattered was that they retrieved his consciousness afterward, which sometimes was inconvenient to say the least.

It was odd having a sentient computer program on the team, especially one that had once been one of your best friends. While many of the other members of Team Misfit eventually got over the fact that Tails' had died at one point, Blaze did not.

She still blamed herself for the fact that Tails' was stuck like he was, and while even the kitsune himself didn't blame her for it, saying that they 'Did the best they could' she still couldn't get the thoughts to leave her alone. The guilt started to get to her and she knew that eventually, if Tails' program were to fall into Robotnik's hands with what he knew, it could cause the end of Mobius as they knew it…

So when Robotnik inevitably found their hideout, she locked Tails' memories, making it so they could only be accessed if somebody was willing to prove themselves. Luckily she'd prepared for this event by making it near impossible to complete, especially without Tails' help, and as her own inevitable capture or death approached, the guilt finally subsided…

**Alright everyone, that's all for this time! Next chapter we'll check back in with Sonic, Tails, and Nicole to see what they're up to! Let me know your thoughts on this chapter! Until next time!**


	8. Breakdown

**Hello everyone! It's that time again so I'm not going to waste any of it!**

**Hjue44: I think a lot of people were anxious to see what happened! Now we'll just have to see what's coming up!**

**Singerj199: Yeah, it was pretty brutal. I have done some certainly messed up writing before so I've found a way to make it work without being totally overbearing! Thanks for the thoughts, I've really been appreciating the reviews lately!**

**Leju: How he handles it is certainly the question huh? There was some… Questionable things done to get him in his current state, so we'll have to see what he thinks of the whole thing this chapter!**

**CVGWJames: Thank you! I've been seeing you around the site and it's nice to see a review from you!**

**Sonicfanandotherstuff: Yeah, it was pretty brutal how Tails died. Blaze still feels pretty guilty about the whole thing.**

**Guest: Tails taking control of a Swat Bot certainly has some potential for destruction!**

**Let's get going!**

**Central Intelligence**

_**Breakdown**_

"That's the story of what happened." Blaze finished, "Tails, once again I'm so sorry. I wish there was another way we could go about this but I figure the least I can do is restore your memories. Now this does mean that you hold the secret to potentially ending this war, one way or another, and I hope you'll use it wisely…"

The silence that followed was incredibly tense, with not a single word spoken between everyone assembled. Nicole eventually decided that she needed to break the silence, "Tails? Are you alright?"

"No… No I'm not!" Tails responded, his voice completely overcome with emotion and shock. "How could I be alright!? I just learned that I died! Do you know how terrible that is!?"

Nicole didn't respond, it seemed like Tails was having his version of a panic attack.

"I've got all my memories back, but not I'm not sure if I even wanted them to begin with! Do you have any idea how much it hurts to know what I am? How I got here!?"

Nicole responded after a short moment to gather her thoughts. "Tails, I know you're probably feeling really stressed right now, and that's fine, but you need to calm down."

"You calm down!" The kitsune responded, his accusatory point trembling as he spoke. "I- I..." His voice shuddered as he seemingly started to break down. Completely losing control entirely as he gave into his panic. "Just stay away from me!"

The kitsune dematerialized, the silence returning once again. Sonic tried his best to break the awkward silence, "Well… That was eventful…"

"I feel sorry for him." Nicole replied, "I mean he's just figured out what happened and... I think he just needs some space."

"Yeah, we really should be headed back, maybe he'll be a little bit better by then."

As Sonic went to leave however, he immediately noticed a pair of figures emerge from out of the shadows of the next room. He was immediately greeted by a robotic lemur with a oversized tail, and a robotic wolf holstering a rifle over it's shoulder.

"I assume you two aren't here to be friendly right?"

Before they could respond however, Tails rematerialized, his eyes wide in abstract terror at the sight of the two Robians before them. "Tangle, Whisper? It's me!"

The two Robians simply motioned at the device in the hedgehog's hand, which the speedster put away, causing the kitsune's AI to deactivate. "Sorry, I don't think I can let you have this, but I assume you're not just going to let me go huh?"

He charged the robotizied Tangle, slamming her to the ground. While he could just escape, the issue was that somehow these two Robians had been able to track them, he intended to get some information from Nicole once they'd been deactivated in order to figure out how. The cramped space would also make it much more difficult to escape until one of them were defeated.

The hedgehog rolled out of the way of a laser blast, grabbing the rifle that Whisper held and attempted to pull it from her grip, instead he found himself being thrown over the shoulder and into a nearby wall. Shaking off the hit, he quickly closed the gap between him and the wolf, only for a large robotic tail to swipe him, sending him sprawling again as Tangle tried to pin down the hedgehog.

Kicking the robotic lemur in the stomach and sending her across the room. He instantly jumped to his feet, dashing over toward the lemur. A laser blast impacted the wall behind him as Whisper prepared for another attack, steadying her rifle. Being forced to change targets to interrupt the attack, Sonic dove at Whisper, sending the weapon flying out of the machine's grip as they hit the floor.

The wolf swung an elbow at the hedgehog, nailing him directly in the face and sending him into a dizzy spiral as he tried to rise back to his feet, only for Tangle to land a solid blow to the back of his head. Collapsing to the floor, he looked up to find the barrel of Whisper's weapon pointed directly at him and the last thing he saw before blacking out was the glow of the next round being discharged.

**-X-**

"Tails?" Nicole yelled, the digitized landscape's green color being visible as her eyes could see. She had been looking for him for a while, though she knew that from an outsider's perspective, it had only been a second or two. "Tails?" She yelled again, to no avail.

Sighing, she figured this would happen. Having the realization of what exactly Tails was had completely destroyed his mind, and she didn't blame him. Figuring out you're dead would certainly put her or anyone she knew into shock. It was no wonder he had freaked out like he had.

Still, she figured she'd at least check on him, see how he was going now that he'd had a moment to himself. But the other AI not responding to her calls however wasn't the best sign.

"Well, I didn't want to do this..." She thought aloud, opening the system files for the device and trying to locate where Tails' data was located. Once she found it she manipulated the data just enough to get the kit to materialize in front of her, which he was not the happiest about.

"I told you to just leave me alone..." The kitsune spoke, curled in in the fetal position with his tails wrapped around himself.

"You know I can't do that. You're obviously still in a bit of shock from earlier."

"Why shouldn't I be!?"

"Let me finish," Nicole interrupted, stopping the outburst in it's tracks. "You don't need to deal with this on your own you know. I mean, you've got me, and Sonic, there's obviously a lot going on in your head right now, so please, just talk about it."

"What about Sonic? Aren't you supposed to be helping him?"

"I would but he decided that putting the device into a sort of hibernation state was the best idea, he doesn't really think these things through sometimes. So, it's just the two of us for now."

Tails was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "It's just a lot to take in."

Nicole just listened as he continued, "I mean, knowing I was alive at one point says a lot. What happened to Blaze, is she still out there? I've got almost every memory back but I still can't answer that question. Plus, knowing the secret to what could possibly be used to create weapons of mass destruction is a lot of pressure. I know Blaze obviously trusted me, but I'm not sure if I trust myself."

The lynx sat next to the kitsune, waiting a moment before responding. "I trust you."

"What?"

"I trust you, I mean, you heard me right?" She answered, "I haven't even known you for that long all things considered and I trust you! Blaze was right to tell you whatever it is that you know!"

"Why? I mean…"

"What do you mean why? From what I've managed to gather you cared for your friends! Even saw them as family of sorts, what would be different now?"

Tails stopped, Nicole had a point, though he still felt the pit in his stomach.

"It's my fault they're dead though, if I'd only-"

"It's not your fault, and you know that! You need to stop beating yourself up about it! You did the best you could, if anything, it's somebody else's fault, you died! I don't think it's your fault!"

That did it. After thinking it over for a second, Tails started to feel the gnawing guilt fade away. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." He responded.

Nicole helped pull him to his feet, "I think deep down somewhere you knew that. You just needed to realize it."

"You might have a point there… So, what's going on with Sonic?"

"Don't know, but I suppose we'll figure out soon once he decides to turn it back on. He can handle himself."

"I mean, those two robots, they were Tangle and Whisper. They're my friends..."

Nicole but a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure we'll figure out some way to help them, but for now we need to make sure that whatever information you know can get into the right hands."

Little did the two of them know however, that things weren't quite going as planned...

**Alright everyone, that's it for today! Let me know your thoughts on the chapter in a review, they really mean a lot! Until next time!**


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